How long does an insurer have to pay a clean claim in Tennessee?

21 days for clean claims submitted electronically, under Tennessee's prompt-pay law (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109). Late payments owe interest at 1% a month.

Do prompt-pay laws apply to every plan?

No. State prompt-pay laws cover state-regulated insurance; self-funded employer plans under ERISA are generally outside them. Owed leaves these findings out for payers you've marked self-funded, and marks them unconfirmed until you confirm a payer's plans are fully insured.

Prompt-pay interest.

Prompt-pay interest is the interest a payer owes by law when it pays a clean claim late. In Tennessee, clean electronic claims are due within 21 days, with interest at 1% a month after that (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109).

Why it happens

Payers rarely add the interest on their own, and on a single therapy claim it's small, so nobody asks. Across a year of remittances it adds up.

How Owed checks

01
For commercial claims, Owed reads the date the payer received each claim and the date it paid it, and skips claims submitted more than 90 days after the service.
02
If payment came more than 21 days after receipt, it computes interest at 1% a month for the days late, minus any interest the payer already paid.
03
Because interest per claim is small, it totals the interest per payment, so there's one request per remittance instead of dozens.
04
State insurance law reaches fully insured plans, not self-funded employer plans (ERISA) or Medicare and Medicaid plans. You tell Owed how each payer's plans are funded: it leaves the finding out for payers you've marked self-funded or government, says so when you've confirmed a payer is fully insured, and marks it unconfirmed otherwise.

What you'll see

How many claims were late and the longest delay
The interest owed and the statute

Rules decide, never AI: the same file always gives the same findings, and every finding shows its math.

What to do

Ask the payer for the statutory interest, citing the prompt-pay statute, the claim receipt dates and the payment date.

Questions

How long does an insurer have to pay a clean claim in Tennessee?: 21 days for clean claims submitted electronically, under Tennessee's prompt-pay law (Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-7-109). Late payments owe interest at 1% a month.
Do prompt-pay laws apply to every plan?: No. State prompt-pay laws cover state-regulated insurance; self-funded employer plans under ERISA are generally outside them. Owed leaves these findings out for payers you've marked self-funded, and marks them unconfirmed until you confirm a payer's plans are fully insured.